Fanshawe, Lady Ann

Originally written in 1676, transcribed by Lady Eleanor Charlotte Butler in a fine small calligraphic hand for presentation to Sarah Tighe, 141 pages, plus blanks, 4to (235 x 190 mm), 1785; occasional paper imperfections, light spotting. Contemporary green morocco gilt frame and small centrepiece stamp "S.T." on upper cover "1785" on lower cover within ovals of flowers, spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt; lightly stained.

acquisition: Bernard Quaritch, 2007

CELM FaA 2

A beautiful calligraphic manuscript by the elder of the ladies of Llangollen. The memoir of Ann, Lady Fanshawe, survives in a corrected scribal manuscript produced in 1676 (now British Library, Add. MS 41161). Lady Eleanor Butler produced her transcript from an intermediary copy by Charlotte Coleman from 1766. The Memoir describes years spent as a Royalist exile in France, Ireland, and Spain, as well as Lady Fanshawe's often melancholy family life (only three of her twenty-four children survived to adulthood). Sarah Tighe was a cousin of Lady Eleanor's companion Sarah Ponsonby, and supported the ladies' celebrated retirement with an annual allowance of £80.